With technology having advanced so much over recent years it is no longer necessary to have a bulky laptop to carry around with you. With manufacturing costs reduced and silicon chips becoming smaller and smaller there has now been a recent influx of small notebook’s, otherwise known as netbook’s. These new netbook systems come with many of the same features as a standard notebook as well as being more cost efficient and light.
In this article we will discuss the features included with netbook’s as well as provide you with the best advice in choosing the right netbook for your needs..
Size of screen?
Typical netbook’s have a minimum screen size of 8 inches going up to 12 in some cases. With so many brands available on the market you are sure to find a great deal of sizes of various screen resolutions. Again resolution varies from model to model, but as a guideline you want to make sure your netbook has a minimum resolution of 1024×600.
Connectivity available
The main appealing feature for many who decide to purchase a netbook is the ability to use it to browse the internet. Peoples uses vary so it is important to make sure your new computer has the features you require. As standard you want a netbook with wifi capability installed to allow you to browse the internet via wireless. Other points to take into consideration are the amount of usb ports included. More usb ports mean the more devices you can connect to your netbook such as an optical drive or printer. You will find many netbook’s come included with some form of card reader, although not as comprehensive as larger notebook models.
Storage capacity.
If you are looking for a computer for light weight usage then a smaller hard drive will suffice for many. Cheaper variations of netbook come with a small hard drive such as a 20 – 40gb hard drive. If you intend to download a lot of stuff like music, video etc then it is advised to choose a model with a larger hard drive. A minimum of an 80gb hard drive will be great for everyday usage. As well as netbook’s that come included with a standard hard drive you will also find newer models installed with a flash type drive. These drives are fairly new and are designed to conserve space as well as power output from the computer. Although this might appeal to many, it must be noted that these type of drives usually come with a smaller storage capacity than your standard laptop hard drive.
Choosing the right operating system
When choosing a netbook you have 2 choices of operating system, Windows and Linux. Windows is clearly the most popular operating system of choice for many as it is easy to use and comes with many features. Linux is a more light weight operating system that is also fairly easy to use and does not require more system resources. If you intend to purchase a netbook with windows vista installed be sure to check the system has suitable ram allocation of a minimum of 2gb and a good processor to run it smoothly. Although a 1gb ram system can run vista with a standard processor, you will find it can slow the system down quite a lot.
Tags: computer, hard drive, netbook, operating system, technology
